Thing is, all this PC-ism seems to go only one way. We mustn’t refer to African Americans by the “N” word or we’re in trouble; but what about white-folks being called “Whitey” or as used to be some years ago “Honkey”–has any African American been in trouble for that? Nobody dare say a word against Muslims, we mustn’t bad mouth their religious faith, yet they get away with disrespecting ours and other faiths. Women are suing and complaining about sexual harassment, particularly in the work place–has a man ever sued a female co-worker for that? I think the answer to all the above is “I don’t think so.”

As for the sexual harassment bit–if I had a dime for every event in my life that, today constitutes sexual harassment I would have no need to buy lottery tickets! I worked on a USAF base–for over eight years. If I didn’t get a wolf-whistle when I walked down the street to the snack bar for my lunch, I would think something was wrong with me. If the guys didn’t flirt with me–simply plain flirting–I would think something was wrong with me. I mean, it was all in fun–I would flirt back, and everybody knew nothing was serious. Nobody took advantage of me–and I learned to give as much back, in the way of jokes, as I took. These days it seems, at the first hint of a flirt the woman complains and runs to sue.

In my opinion, what is lacking today is discipline, particularly self discipline. We are becoming so dependent on being “looked after” we will soon be incapable of personal action. A certain commercial that bothers me is the one for an over the counter medication to prevent heartburn–you know the one, “Don’t let heartburn stop you eating your favorite foods, take THIS before you eat and you won’t get heartburn at all…”; when the top and bottom of it is have enough self discipline to not eat the foods you know will hurt you. No, take a pill and eat what you want. Safety issues–wear protective clothing when enjoying cycling, rollerskating, or playing sports–don’t learn to cycle safely, roller skate safely, or otherwise take care of yourself.

When roller skating as a teenager, something I loved to do and went to the skating rink every night for a couple of hours, I quickly learned how to skate without falling, or how to fall without hurting vital parts of my body. Same with riding a bicycle, I looked after myself and took care not to fall–not too hard, anyway. Today, children really don’t care how they play, because “I’m not going to hurt myself, I’m wearing knee pads, elbow pads and a helmet, it doesn’t matter if I ride my bicycle properly or roughly, I can’t get hurt.”

We are smothered with safety gadgets–instead of the self discipline of taking care of our own selves. So we blame others for our mishaps–like the teen who died recently after drinking too may energy drinks (his mother is suing the drink company) and the woman who spilled hot coffee when leaving the drive-through at McDonald’s.

By the way, I am British–several of my American friends have referred to me as “Limey”–that is an insult, but Americans aren’t aware that it is–so maybe the next time I hear my son-in-law say “What can you expect–she’s a Limey” I should sue him for using a racial slur!

It’s all in fun you know folks.

Oh, I found my ear-worm song on YouTube–so I was able to learn the first four lines of it, it is from Disney’s Peter Pan. I sang it to myself several times, and I think I might have lost it (Never smile at a Crocodile…) Ooops, no not yet. 😦